


The Final Stand.

by RussianSunflower3



Series: Inktober 2017 [28]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Close call, Crystal related magic, Crystals, Epic Battles, Friendship, Gen, Inktober 2017, Magical Boys, Major Character Injury, No death although it is talked about, magical girl au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-28
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-25 08:46:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12527500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RussianSunflower3/pseuds/RussianSunflower3
Summary: The world of magic has almost a magnetic pull, especially the chance of becoming a Magika! Magical boys and girls gather at the last stronghold against negative, evil energies, but after months of calm, nobody is expecting the worst.Then the worst happens.How can three shadow golems cause so much damage to this many Magika?There's a good chance they could all die here, and then the world will fall.In the end, this is what being a Magika is all about.





	The Final Stand.

**Author's Note:**

> I've watched too much PMMM, Magical Girls Rising Project, and Yuki Yuna Is A Hero researching for this.

“Aquamarine arrow!” At the sharp cry, a bolt of rose crystal shoots towards a hulking shadow. From where it was shot, there’s a huge collision and a person falls from the sky, looking in terrible condition. His hair - once gelled up is loose and heavy, and he drips blood from wounds all over his body. Most notably, he’s completely limp, as if sending out his magical attack had drained all the energy from him and left him unconscious.

“Kindaichi!” Sprinting across the ground, a smaller magical boy in a similar outfit - with a frilly skirt complete with bows, and puffy sleeves - but black on orange instead of aqua on white, grabs the crystal on the necklace around his neck.

“Sunstone sweep!” Orange crystals shoot out from his feet, creating a solid surface that he skates across as quick as lightning, skidding to a halt as he catches the falling body. The first thing he does is dart away from a reflected attack from whatever is attacking them, dragging Kindaichi into a small crevice behind a pile of boxes, sitting him up against the wall.

“Hinata, is he okay?” Under normal circumstances, Tsukishima would never speak so gently to Hinata - in a costume the exact same but with reversed colours - but this is not a normal situation. This is _far_ from the small battles they have against evil forces. This is a **war** against their strongest opponent yet.

Three gigantic shadow golems made entirely of negative energies and auras, had emerged from a rip in the magical protection barrier. Two of them had been bigger and more sinister than the other, so the third and second stage magika had gone ahead to fight those, leaving the weakest of the three to the first stage boys.

Unfortunately, it still seemed to be a lot stronger than they could manage.

“I- I don’t know… He’s not dead, but he’s really weak.”

“Let me see.” Hinata shuffles aside, peering over the stack of the boxes to keep watch for any attack, as Tsukishima checks over Kindaichi.

“He’s out of magical energy, and there’s multiple wounds on his side. I can’t heal this unless I have energy to draw on…”

“Use mine!” Tsukishima stares at him with a hint of distaste.

“You know that will either make your attacks weaker or you can’t cast as many?”

“I know that! I know that… But I won’t let him die! If he dies-...” It’s an unwritten magic rule, a hidden trade they didn’t realise until they were in too deep, that if a magika dies, his memory is completely erased from the world. No one would ever remember he existed, except those who were his magical friends. It was painful to see a world where a good friend didn’t exist. They’d watched the third stage magika go through that a long time ago.

“... Alright. Give me your hand.” Keeping his eyes forwards, Hinata holds his hand behind him so Tsukishima can take it in one of his own, removing their opposing coloured gloves. It helps the magic flow easier.

“Schorl salvage.” With a healing spell, since Tsukishima’s healing aptitude is only second to Yamaguchi within their rank, he closes the wound and restores just enough magical energy that Kindaichi can start to heal on his own.

“I don’t mean to startle you, but that golem is getting awfully close!”

“Dammit, Hinata! You should have said so sooner!” They work together, quickly, to help Kindaichi to his feet as he regain consciousness, too dazed to ask what’s going on or argue as they half-drag him away. All three are blown to the ground by a blast of wind as the boxes they were hiding behind are destroyed by a shadow attack.

“This isn’t good. We’re _losing_. There’s 17 of us and we’re losing to a single entity!” Hinata seems strangely focused as he stares up at the golem, a hulking mass of static void shrouded in smoke and steam.

“Tsukishima. We have to defeat this thing, no matter the cost, right?”

“Preferably _without_ cost. But if it crosses the second barrier, the last stronghold will be destroyed and the world falls to shadows, so, yes. At any cost.” Hinata closes his eyes, reopening them with danger and daring dancing in their depths.

“Rainbow Opal formation.”

“... Hinata, you’re a fucking idiot and we’re not doing that.”

“We have to.”

“No, we don’t! You’re asking seven people to just kill themselves off for one golem?” Hinata whirls around on him, eyes blazing with fire and small crystals forming at his fingertips as his energy restores itself and feeds off his rage.

“I’m saying we have to make seven sacrifices to save the entirety of the world! It sounds cruel! It’s cruel and unfair, but the benefits outweigh the cost!”

“Fuck the benefits! All we have to do is hold off until our senpai finish their fight, then they’ll come and help us! We’re just magika, we shouldn’t have to sacrifice our entire lives for some shitty saving-the-world contract!” Their argument is getting heated, but it’s interrupted by a groggy groan as Kindaichi sits forward, pressing his hands to his head.

“Shut up, both of you… Geez, I almost die and this is my welcome back?” Rolling his eyes with a snort, Tsukishima fires back.

“You _wouldn’t_ have almost died if you hadn’t exhausted your magical power.” Kindaichi gives the ground a sad smile, not making eye contact and instead trying to scrape dried blood off his skin.

“It was gonna attack Kunimi. I panicked.”

“Be more careful!” Hinata offers him a hand to get to his feet, and he takes it with a murmur of thanks before turning to Tsukishima.

“I think Shouyou’s right. We need to do Rainbow Opal formation. If we don’t… Most of us - maybe even _all_ of us - will die in the crossfire anyways.”

“Don’t be stupid. If we can hold off-”

“ _If_. That’s way too big an if, Tsukishima. We need- We have to put the settlement first. It’s part of the contract.” Tsukishima grits his teeth, clenches his fist, and tries not to growl as he listens to them. His heart sinks into his stomach, giving him a horrifically acidic feeling like he’s going to vomit.

“Will anyone else agree to it?” The trio turn their gaze to the battlefield. It’s looking desperate. The ground around them is barren, tainted, and wartorn. Their magical companions, their _friends_ are either strewn across in agony as Yamaguchi tries to heal them, or desperately trying to dodge incoming attacks whilst landing their own blows.

But it’s like their attacks do nothing. No matter what their crystal, the golem seems to reflect every attack they send its way with twice the strength, in the form of negative energy that warps their own magic, draining their power and making them weak. 

“I’d say we’re desperate enough. I’m going to try and talk to everyone.” 

“M’already volunteering. I don’t want Kunimi to do it.” Tsukishima sighs, knowing he won’t be able to talk them out of this _idiotic_ plan. But as much as he likes to label it as such, he know deep inside that Hinata is right.

There’s no other visible way to defeat an enemy too strong for all of them individually. 

“Matsushima and Goshiki don’t have much choice. They’re the only representatives for their crystal colours here. But I think, if you’re going to be so _stupid_ as to do this, you need to send someone to alert the second and third stage magika. Either you, since you’re fastest, or Lev, since he has enough energy to use a crystal transportation hop.”

“Thanks, Tsukki.” As Hinata jogs away, Tsukishima makes such a face of disgust that Kindaichi laughs at him, a hoarse and wet chuckle that suggests he isn’t as healed as he looks on the surface. That’s confirmed when he leans over and spits a small glob of blood out.

“Kindaichi…”

“Yeah. I’m not gonna make it unless a third stage healing Magika makes it here in time. Might as well go out in the Rainbow Opal formation, doing something useful.”

“... Insane. You’re all bloody insane.” Kindaichi snickers, pushing against the wall to stay standing on his uneasy feet.

“I’m heading down to the battlefield. You staying around to watch?”

“Tsukki!” From down in the cratered area, Yamaguchi waves his arms desperately to attract Tsukishima’s attention. There’s too many injuries for him to heal, and if Rainbow Opal is taking place, then they need to get the injured out of the firing line. He sighs, pushing back his fringe, smearing ash and mud across his forehead by accident.

“No. I’ll help the wounded away. _Technically_ , that should include you, but since you volunteered…” Kindaichi snickers and shrugs, pushing off the way to limp his way over the wasteland to get into position.

For Rainbow Opal to work, they need to stand in a seven-pointed star around the shadow golem, in the rainbow order. ROYGBIV, they had drilled into them from their contract, even if their own coloured crystals didn’t necessarily match. They had no Indigo or violet, only Matsushima’s pink, and Goshiki’s maroon. It would do.

As Tsukishima helps carry Shibayama off the battlefield, passed out from magic exhaustion with no physical wounds, he casts a gaze back to the golem. Suzumeda and Yachi are scrambling after them, the latter limping heavily from a tainted curse wrapped around her leg. Yamaguchi rushes to meet them, taking up Yachi’s other side.

Lev is _gone_ , having been sent by Hinata to tell their Magika senpai what was about to happen. Hinata, too, is absent from ground zero, and Tsukishima reckons they split the duty so both teams were alerted at the same time.

From their orange centric crystals, that left… Kageyama, who Tsukishima spotted moving behind a chunk of fallen building, taking shelter just in time as a shadow mist bomb explodes just meters away from him.

At the next point around, Inuoka stands in position, grim determination on his face. Like the situation with the orange crystals, he’s the only one of his kind left. His pyrope attacks were speed based, much like Hinata’s sunstone, but he was also strong and sturdy. Reliable.

On Inuoka’s other side was Goshiki, who was a bit of a wildcard with his untameable Spinel. But when push came to shove, he always came through. He looked as if he was crying, even from this distance, and Tsukishima wonders why he agreed to do it if he _didn’t_ want to die.

Matsushima was relatively new to their area, a Morganite crystal user who had come to this area in pursuit of Takeru Nakashima, a third stage Magika who came from the same destroyed, ruined town, one of the last remaining strongholds against the negative, evil energies and entities.

Now, only this one was left.

Kindaichi dragged himself over to where his place on the seven pointed star would be, reassuring Kunimi that this was the right decision, and sending him away. Kunimi’s gift to him was a promise to always remember him, before he left the battlefield with tears in his eyes. Only one of them was needed to represent blue. It seemed that today, they would be losing Aquamarine over Hemimorphite.

As Kunimi walked away solemnly, trying to hide the fact he was heading towards a breakdown because his _best friend_ was about to sacrifice himself, he was joined by Koganegawa, patting his back and pushing him away quicker. Sakunami was already charging up his Aventurine.

Onaga had volunteered because he thought it was important, really important, for Suzumeda to stay by Yachi’s side. He pulled his Citrine crystal out from where it had been hidden behind the neckline of his Magika outfit.

Then, there was Kageyama with his Spessartite, still hiding behind the rubble as he refrained from making any attacks because the Rainbow Opal required a _ton_ of energy. 

That’s not surprising. It will literally tear their life forces away from them, leaving corpses in place of the magical boys that stood at each point, erased from the memory of everyone except those who bore witness to the double-edged sword of the strongest Magika weapon.

“They’re ready.” Tsukishima doesn’t even realise he’s staring uselessly instead of providing cover until he hears Yamaguchi’s whisper in his ear. He sounds like he’s already mourning, but why wouldn’t he be? They’re watching the final moments of the friends they’ve come to know and love.

It wasn’t always this bad.

Enemies used to be much weaker, much less frequent. There’s been time to bond, time to have fun and hang around each other out of Magika attire. They’d done normal teenager things, like getting milkshakes on the way home from school, playing video games together, and even sleepovers. They’d had time to relax, because the energies then had been small enough for one Magika alone to purify.

It was only recently they’d had to start pairing up to defeat the ever-strengthening negative energies.

But this was a whole new scale. This was the enraged storm, after months of calm with no appearances from the shadows. _This_ was the magical equivalent of a nuclear bomb, sent to eradicate them off the map.

“They’re ready…” Yamaguchi repeats, and Tsukishima reaches for his hand.

“I know.”

“They’re gonna _die_...”

“I- I know.”

“... We can’t stop them, can we?”

“No. I’m sorry.” Yamaguchi’s tears started to fall faster, although he remained silent as the star drew itself in the ground, glowing neon and blending together as it linked each colour crystal to the others from where the magical boys held it high.

Yachi was crying as she tried not to watch, burying her head in Suzumeda’s chest, whilst Suzumeda trembled and sobbed silently, her eyes squeezed shut.

Koganegawa was holding back Kunimi, who looked ready to either run over and forcibly tackle his best friend, or collapse to the floor completely breaking down. It was leaning more towards the second option. That didn’t mean Koganegawa was okay, either. He too, was crying like he’d never cried before.

Tsukishima was relieved that Shibayama was still unconscious, that he didn’t have to experience this horrible thing, to _watch_ their friends die right in front of them. Tsukishima didn’t bother to look at anyone else’s reaction. It hurt too much. It made what was happening real.

“Stop! _STOP_!” They don’t have time to react to the cry before a flash of blue and white, followed by red, and finally black and orange passes, leaping off the railing in front of the first stage Magika.

It’s the third stage Magika, and the difference in their power level shows clear as day when the one in blue and white lands in the centre of the seven pointed star, beneath the golem’s feet, and casts his own magic without announcing it to _completely dispel_ the Rainbow Opal formation, even removing the backlash that should come with it. 

He doesn’t stop for a second, spinning on foot and grabbing his student, dashing away from the formation at the same time the black and orange Magika throws up a shield for _his_ student, and the one in red heads towards Sakunami, since he has a nasty gash in his leg.

“Oikawa! Kuroo! _Daichi_!” Yachi’s cry of glee breaks through the dismal mood, but as the three land in front of them, the other Magika of the Rainbow Opal behind them, it drops again. Oikawa has a dangerous shadow over his eyes, one that promises he won’t be letting them off without consequence. Daichi looks just as furious, so in the end, Kuroo sighs and speaks.

“Look, we found a way to defeat these guys. And we’re all gonna lecture the shit out of you for trying something suicidal. But we gotta get you all away from here first.” A mighty roar sees the golem raise a fist, swirling with black smoke and swarmed in negative energy, and it’s a mad dash to get out of reach, the injured and those carrying the injured struggling behind. Daichi throws a shield up just in time to prevent them from being pounded by rubble.

“Keep going, keep going. We’re going to draw the three golems together.”

“We’re going to _what_?!” Oikawa shoots Goshiki a look, but quickly retracts it when it makes his grip on Kindaichi slip, and he readjusts the hold.

“I worked it out. Our magic doesn’t affect them, because they convert it into negative energy and throw it back stronger, since that’s their affinity. But _negative_ magic will do great harm. We’re going to draw them together, then lure them into accidentally attacking each other.” Almost instantly, Tsukishima spots a hole in the plan.

“What happens when there’s only one left?” Oikawa grins, the expression tainted with a bloodthirst that doesn’t fit their position as active protectors of the earth. He looks more like a warmonger on the path to destruction.

“We let it waste its energy~.”

“How?”

“Akaashi, Suga, Shirabu, Moniwa, Kenma, Yahaba and I will be neutralising the attack in layers so we don’t sustain too much damage each attack thrown at us. Tobio-chan over there, although I _hate_ to give him star role, is going to amplify that nulled attack and send it back. With no alignment magic at all, it’s going to win us the battle.”

“You sound incredibly confident.” Kuroo snickers, moving slightly closer to Tsukishima as he jumps.

“It’s Oikawa, Tsukki. What do you expect~?”

“... Daichi-san, how do you survive around these smug assholes?” The fact that Kuroo and Oikawa only laugh serves to reinforce Tsukishima’s opinion of them, whilst Daichi shakes his head with a fond sigh.

“I’m just not quite sure, Tsukishima.” The conversation draws to a close as they narrow in on the sights and sounds of a magical war, the third and second stage Magika having lured the two golems they were facing together, weaving inbetween them to lull them into throwing attacks that would directly hit the other.

It’s clever.

It’s _working_.

“First stages, asides from Tobio-chan, follow me to the underground shelter. It should be strong enough to hold up whilst we’re fighting. Anyone with the slightest healing ability needs to pitch in, but Daichi’ll send Semi, Jin, and Kinoshita down to heal those with critical injuries.” The end of Oikawa’s sentence trails off, softening as his eyes flicker to the student in his arms.

Tsukishima doesn’t think he’s imagining that Kindaichi’s condition has worsened. The blood has definitely started pouring out faster, taking on a darker tinge, and he’s coughed clots of it out down Oikawa’s back. He might complain later, once he’s sure his student is safe and sound.

“I’ll send Ennoshita down too. As much as I trust these underground shelters, I still want there to be a second line of defence.” Oikawa nods in agreement with Daichi’s rumble, and Kuroo passes Sakunami over to Koganegawa to carry.

“I’ll send Kenma too, in that case.”

“We could use Yahaba and Kenma’s help on the neutralisation. Their presence could make all the difference. Their nullification magic is more important than their shield magic right now.”

“Ennoshita’s perfectly capable of holding up a ceiling. Just stick to the plan.”

“Stick to _my_ plan.” Daichi rolls his eyes, landing on the ground and skidding to a halt outside the entrance to the underground shelter. He waits until all but three of them have walked inside, Oikawa obviously reluctant to let his injured, _dying_ student out of his arms. But Kunimi is there, and he trusts Kunimi as much as he trust Iwaizumi. He knows Kunimi would never let his best friend die.

“Take care of him, ‘kay? I’ll treat you both to ice cream once this is all over.” The prospect gives Kunimi a tiny smile, like it’s a weight of his shoulders to have word of what’s going to happen afterwards.

It gives hope that there _is_ an afterwards.

“Of course. I’ll hold you to that.” Kindaichi is passed over gently, through he still manages a weak groan at the jostling. Kuroo uses what little healing magic he can - learnt from Kenma - to make the transfer as painless as possible and try to stop the bleeding. Yamaguchi, standing on the other side, is much more effective, even if nothing is healing much. They need a third stage healer.

If they can’t save him soon, he’ll lose his magical transformation, and then the wounds will be instantly fatal. Considering he’s bleeding internally, he needs to stay in Magika form if there’s any hope of him surviving.

“Let’s go, Kunimi.” Continuously using his magic, Yamaguchi and Kunimi turn to the inside, entering the underground shelter. Daichi leaps off, pushing himself away from buildings to gain momentum until he stops next to Ennoshita and Kinoshita, sending them onwards. He passes the message along to Semi and Jin, and then the real battle starts. 

At first, those with nullification and amplification magic are hidden. They lie in wait as the remaining Magika fly and teleport around the battlefield, luring the three golems into attacking each other, weakening them and watching the first of three explode into smoke and charcoal dust.

“It’s working! Try and get these two as weak as possible without defeating them! We don’t want to make the clean-up harder!” Tactfully, baiting the golems into attacking each other or getting near misses, they manage to balance them both out at a pretty weak level, before the second golem - the one the first stages were originally battling - shrieks and vanishes in the same manner as the first.

And the clean-up begins. Oikawa and Suga lead their team out into range in a diagonal formation, with themselves at the front as a pair, followed by Moniwa and Akaashi, then Shirabu and Yahaba, and finally Kenma with Kageyama.

Everything hinges on one attack. One attempt. _One chance, or they’re all going to die_.

The golem shrieks and sends out a plume of ash and sorrow, hurtling toward them, and Oikawa and Suga brace themselves as the first two to receive it. They stand a good distance apart, just slightly wider than the attack the golem lashed out, and hold their arms out towards each other as if completing a circle.

“Turquoise termination!”

“Carnelian cancel!” Magic glows between them, and as the attack passes through, some of the ash withers away, and the black dulls to a misty grey. In that one move, using all the remaining magic they could without sacrificing their health, Suga and Oikawa took off a _huge_ portion of the negative energy.

“Peridot Purification!”

“Amber Annulment!” As the dark magic passes through Moniwa and Akaashi’s magic, the smoke is stripped bare, revealing just a ball of ash in dark grey colours.

“Rose quartz Repeal.”

“Azurite Abrogate!” The final nullification spell, and the attack crumbles into a dust that Kenma collects with his own magic, mumbling his casting under his breath because he doesn’t like being the centre of attention, and holding the ball of dust in front of Kageyama, who take a deep breath and concentrates his magic into a pinpoint, ready to direct it back to the golem.

“Spessarite Seeker.” Like a rocket shooting into the sky, orange and gold burst from the ball of dust, showering them with sprinkles as it _locks on_ to the heart of the golem where Kageyama aimed and impacts in the blink of an eye.

Shrieking, the golem goes down, disintegrating in front of their eyes.

It takes a moment for it to sink in.

“We- We did it! We _did_ it!” Cheering and laughing, the group converge together, hugging and crying in relief, jumping up and down in celebration. The rain breaks above them, and their happiness is so loud that they don’t even hear the thunder above as a storm sweeps in to clear the remnants of war, just as it does after every battle.

Soaked and joyous, the victors move towards the underground shelter to check on their students and the injured, passing on the news that it’s safe to come out, the danger is _gone_.

Daichi stops at the entrance to the underground shelter, hearing the happy cry of Oikawa’s relief that both his student are alive and well, although he does lecture Kindaichi - loud enough for Daichi to hear outside - to rest up and never do something so dangerous or reckless again.

He keeps mentioning that the battle is won.

Daichi turns his gaze skywards, letting the rain wash over him and mingle into tear, as if the droplets could steal away the foreboding sense of worry, and float his stomach back to where it belongs after it sinks so far.

“If it’s over… Why do I feel like it’s only just beginning…?”

**Author's Note:**

> Magical genre anime is suddenly full of trauma... So a happy ending despite the rocky beginning and middle!
> 
> I have London Comicon today and I forgot todays prompt - planned ever so carefully over a week - until three hours ago! :D  
> It's now three in the morning! :D   
> I haven't slept! :DDDDD
> 
> Please Kudos/Comment~!  
> Please. Don't let my emotional trauma be for nothing.


End file.
